Teen programming is an important part of what we do as teen librarians. It can also be a time consuming part of what we do, it takes a little bit of time, love and tenderness (wait, is that a song?) to find and put a program together for our teens (and tweens). One of the regular features here at TLT is TPiB. Here are some prepackaged programs (that are easily adaptable) for you to use. If you do use a program, or part of a program, please consider taking some pictures and dropping us a line to let us know. See also Tech Talk.
Book Based Programs
Based on specific books, adaptable for general programs
Feed Their Hunger for the Hunger Games (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, survival)
Share it! Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Olympians Week (Rick Riordan’s Olympians series)
It’s a Dead Man’s Party (Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, zombies, monsters)
Paranormal Crafts – Angels (Angel fiction, Embrace by Jessica Shirvington)
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand (horror)
Food Fight (based on The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski, food activities)
Retro Reading (based on Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt)
The Fairy Garden (inspired by Return to Me by Justina Chen)
Leaving Kansas for Oz (inspired by The Wizard of Oz)
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School (Halloween, monsters and zombies)
Divergent Rainbow Loom Faction Bracelets with Bottle Cap charms
Book Review and Program Ideas: Playing with Surface Design by Courtney Cerruti
Craft Programs
More Crafts Then You Have Time For
Flashback Fridays (retro)
Send Them Back to School with Style (back to school crafts)
Pageturners! Save My Spot! (a variety of bookmarks)
Turn Your Instagram Photos into Photobooth Strip Bookmarks
Picture It: 30 Days of Art Activities part 1
Art Through the Ages (Picture It: 30 Days of Art Activities part 2)
Picture It: 30 Days of Art Activities part 3
Picture It: 30 Days of Art Activities part 4
Monster Fest (great for Halloween)
Once Upon a Time (twisted fairy tales, fantasy)
All the World’s a Stage (performing arts)
Meme ALL the Shirts (t-shirt crafts, memes)
Tales from the Crib: Babysitting 101 (Don’t Sit on the Baby from Zest Books)
Retro Movies with Reel Culture (Reel Culture from Zest Books)
87 Killer Programs from 87 Ways to Throw a Killer Party (87 Ways to Throw a Killer Party from Zest Books)
Spatacular (spa activities, based on books from Zest Books)
We’ve Only Got This One Earth: 47 Things You Can Do for the Environment (Earth Day, going green, based on 47 Things You Can Do for the Environment from Zest Books)
Guitar Pick Jewelry (featuring Guitar Notes by Mary Amato)
Duct Tape Crafts and Duct Tape Crafts Part 2
Poster Frenzy: Transparency Film + Dry Erase Markers = Posters
Renovate Your Room (with more Duct tape crafts)
10 Things to Do with a Blank Canvas part 1 and part 2.
Sugar Skulls for Dia de los Muertos
To Rainbow Loom or Not To Rainbow Loom
STEM Programming using Quirk’s Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab.
Washi: The kinder, gentler tape
Five Zero Cost, Raid the Cabinet programs
Playing with Surface Design by Courtney Cerruti
Postcards from France, programs, books and more for a France themed day
DIY Magnetic Duct Tape Instagram Photo Frames
Herbal Bath Sachets (aka Tub Teas)
Mexican Sugar Skulls Made Out of Clay (with links to a few other multicultural crafts)
Food Based Programs
Food Fight (based on The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski, food activities)
Interactive Programs
Live Angry Birds (by Heather Booth)
Prom Spectacular (by Steve Moser)
Poetically Speaking (poetry activities)
Post It Note art (by Stacey Costabile)
Follow the Evidence (CSI activities)
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover (book speed dating)
Feeding Frenzy (Food allergy awareness as it appeared in VOYA, February 2012)
The Slurpee Challenge (by Heather Booth)
Creating a Babysitting Toolkit
Reality TV inspired programming ideas: Project Runway, Fear Factor, Cupcake Wars, Craft Wars
In a galaxy not so far away (Star Wars programming)
Valentine’s Day/Anti-Valentine’s Day Programming (based on Crushed, Dumped, Kiss and The Date Book by Zest Books)
Cycling and Health Programs (with a tie in to Holy Spokes by Rob Coppolillo)
Teen Tech Week: Check in at the Library
Free Comic Book Day programming
Nontraditional Programs
It’s In the Bag: Creating a babysitting toolkit (also good for a teen mom class)
Draw It! Teen Summer Reading Club Art Contest
Library Bootcamp (library training)
Expect the Unexpected: Lock-Ins (by Christie Gibrich)
Reel Teens: Hosting a teen film festival (inspired by Andrew Jenks)
Geek Out Your Library: How to host a mini-con at your library
5 Things to Do with Post It Notes in Your Library
Self Directed Displays for the Last Minute
Self Directed Displays in Action
Self Directed Game Day Contest
Doctor Who: Making a Tardis T-Shirt for Dummies
Doctor Who: Making Doctor Who Minimalist Shadow Art
Teen Tech Week on a Shoestring Budget
Creating a Life Hacks Workshop
Make Your Own (Simple) Photo Booth with Props
Making .gifs with a SmartPhone and Legos
Career Conversations (programming for older teens by Heather Booth)
Touch Screen Gloves (from the Robot Test Kitchen)
Strawbees, a great tool for Makerspaces
Career Conversations, programming for older teens
Heather Booth and The Robot Test Kitchen
As part of her ILeadUSA experience, Heather Booth has been blogging about her experiences incorporating more tech into her library teen programming. Take a look at her posts here:
Take 5: The Robot Test Kitchen Reading List
What’s Your Library’s Story? A Robot Test Kitchen Guest Post
True Confessions: My STEM program failed and it was not fun (but I still learned something)
Review: Racing Robot Learn to Solder Kit
True Confessions: I Want This to be Easier
Touch Screen Gloves (from the Robot Test Kitchen)
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Instructions
We’re Not Faking It, We’re Making It
Check out more at the Robot Test Kitchen:
“We are the Techno Whats, a group of Youth Services and Teen librarians. We believe that when imaginations play, learning happens. We aim to use simple robotics as a means to expand our learning experience for other new technologies. Our goal is to provide an entry point of simple robotics in a way Youth and Teen Librarians can understand.”
Follow the Robot Test Kitchen @RobotTestKitchn (https://twitter.com/RobotTestKitchn)
Contact the Robot Test Kitchen: RobotTestKitchen [at] gmail.com
Sometimes we Tumbl too: http://techno-whats.tumblr.com/
Find all of the programs from Teen Librarian Cindy Shutts with the tag Cindy Crushes Programming